Equal pay, prices focus IWD rally The prominence of the demand for equal pay by striking municipal workers is a clear indication that the labor movement is taking up the fight of equality for women in the work force as never before, Astrid Davidson, director of wo- men’s programs for the B.C. Fed- eration of Labor told an Interna- tional Women’s Day gathering in Vancouver Sunday. The struggle for equal pay for work of equal value is the ‘‘type of fight”” which will figure largely in upcoming contract talks around the province, Davidson predicted. Speaking with Davidson at the rally which filled the Oddfellows Hall in Vancouver, were Velda Doran, chairperson of Consumers Against Rising Prices, Carmela Al- levato, newly-elected president of the B.C. Peace Council and Delicia Crump from the B.C. Coalition Their speeches showed that wo- men were at the centre of a number of important battles, not only in the trade union movement, but in fightbacks against spiralling food costs, racism, the arms race and the drive to war. “International Women’s Day this year means something special to me because I’m finally seeing women fighting for their rights all over this province and the rest of Canada,”’ Davidson said. She added that although women were participating to a far greater degree in the labor movement and finding growing support among ~ the men, ‘‘we still have to achieve contract clauses that deal with wo- men and equality in the workp! Women not only want to be paid the same as men for doing the same job, but women want to be paid the same as men doing different but comparable jobs, she declared. The other half of the proposition of winning higher wages, according to Velda Doran from the Consum- ers Against Rising Prices, ‘‘is hold- ing on to them longer.” Increases in food prices since 1973 have risen by hundreds of per- centage points, ‘‘hitting hardest single parents and women who get paid half the wages of most men. pSccns 's what our mail-in card paign urging prime minister a to roll back food prices is all about,’’ Doran said, adding that almost all of the 20,000 cards z pledged by the B.C. group towards 3 a national quota of 100,000, have z been distributed to a wide range of & organizations, including labor : councils and unions, and they have 5 met with ‘‘good response.’ The Carpenters Union, Local 5 aS 452, for instance, will be mailing a = = card to.each one of its members along with a leaflet, Doran noted. An important feature of CARP’s campaign consists of demonstrations in front of super- markets, one which Doran an- nounced for the Kingsgate Mall, on the corner of Kingsway and Broad- way, 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 14. B.C. Peace Council president Carmela Allevato put all of the is- sues raised by the speakers against the backdrop of a broader fight — the survival of the human race. “‘We are closer now to self-de- struction than ever before,’’ she de- clared. ‘‘The size of the nuclear stockpiles and the potential for proliferation are out of hand.”’ Reagan’s “‘blatant statement’’ that the savings from cutbacks in social services will go directly into the arms budget is ‘‘a signal to us that we must organize and let them know that they can’t do it,’’ she said. Referring to the recent successful conference of the B.C. Peace Council, Allevato reminded the meeting that the Council had set it- self the goal of gathering 150,000 on a peace petition, which, along with the 850,000 sig- natures from across Canada ‘“‘will form the | million signature pledge made by the Canadian Peace Con- gress to the World Peace Con- JUNE PHOTO On Saturday feminist organiza-" tions and others marched through downtown Vancouver to a rally in Robson Square, with speakers from the Welfare Rights Coalition, CAIMAW, the Indian Mahila Or- BRITISH COLUMBIA _ MIKE HARCOURT (R to L), HARVEY McKINNON, BOB SKELLY, RAY COX. . and political leaders supportings petition. Petition condemning U.S. role in El Salvador wins support A broadly based coalition of community and political leaders chose Tuesday’s visit by U.S: presi- dent Ronald Reagan to Ottawa to speak out publicly against U.S. in- tervention in El Salvador. NDP MLA Bob Skelly, Van- couver mayor Mike Harcourt, Ox- fam spokesman Harvey McKin- non, United Church ministers Derek Evans and John Hillborn, Catholic Church spokesman Ray Cox, Law Union spokesman Craig Paterson, Status of Women representative Debra Lewis, B.C. Teachers Federation representative Jeff Peters, and Central American Support Committee spokesperson Roger Treu held a joint press con- ference Monday to endorse a peti- tion ‘“‘publicly opposing U.S. in- tervention in El Salvador.”’ Also Monday members of the Central America Support Com- mittee launched a hunger strike in front of the U.S. Consulatein Van- couver to protest U.S. intervention in El Salvador. The hunger strike was to continue until Reagan leaves Canada. Skelly and Harcourt each in- dicated legislative action to back up the protest action. Skelly said that the NDP provincial caucus would be placing a motion in the Kay INGLIS MituiE Hasz ganization and others. he Sale < non non at 514 W. Broadway, Vancouver, B. C. : Phone oe 1524 7 oriental carpets embraideries \\ lacquerware legislature condemning interven- tion in El Salvador, and Harcourt pledged support in Vancouver city council for a similar motion and for any request for material aid to EI Salvador. Skelly, just returned from a visit . to Nicaragua, refuted charges that the Faribundi Marti National Front in El Salvador has been receiving armed assistance from Nicaragua. Nicaragua has its own problems with nearly half of its productive forces destroyed and an enormous inflation rate, and it does not share a border with El Salvador, he said. “The presence of Reagan in Canada today is an insult to the people of El Salvador,” said Craig Paterson. He linked the struggle in El Salvador to Canadian struggles for social justice and called for a . among the community “common cause”’ between Cana- dians and El Salvadorians. The petition campaign is spon- sored by the Central America Sup- port Committee and is endorsed also by a broad list of sponsors in- cluding Dave Barrett, Harry Rankin, Pauline Jewett, Dave MacIntyre and Wes Maultsaid. Copies are available from 2524 ‘Cypress St., Vancouver or by phoning 255-8836 or 876-6565. In El Salvador, the Revolu- tionary Democratic Front, political - arm of the FMLN, denied last week that any arms from Ethiopia, Cuba, Vietnam, the Soviet Union or any other country have been supplied to its army and charged that the “proof” of arms ship- ments from socialist countries cited by U.S. secretary of state Haig is fabricated. Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion Veterans 44th Anniversary Banquet & Dance Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Ave., Vancouver , Saturday, March 28, 6:30 p.m. Admission — $7 Come and celebrate Allan & Peggy Chunn’s 40th Anniversary _March 28, 8 p.m. 3074 Charles St., Vancouver Slides of USSR, food, refreshments Western Dance at the Ash Street Corral! Happy Hour 7:30-8:30 p.m. prizes for best Live Band 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28. 6184 Ash St., Vanc. western outfit! $5/p. For tickets phone 980-7263 - PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 13, 1981—Page 10